“Eating your own dog food” is a phrase that techies love to throw around — and while I have never loved it, it is apt in its intention. That well-worn phrase is aimed at describing the extent to which companies actually use their own products: the idea being that if it is good enough for them, it should be good enough for the public.
Not every product is meant for every situation, however. I do not think that Facebook wants its employees continuously looking at friends' pictures and posting updates on their lunch plans (especially during business hours.) Yet, there is certainly truth in the concept of truly knowing your product— and being your own customer certainly provides those insights. Having to rely on your own creation forces you to consider how others may use it. In the case of workflow and business process management, if what you create is not helping you run things more efficiently, then it probably is not doing much good for anyone else either.
As a company obsessed with workflow and business process management (BPM), we take our own internal operations very seriously. If you were to spend a few days with us, you would see a group of people who are focused, yet flexible. We recognize that there is power in using Process Director BPM software to meet goals, however not every problem can be “solved” with software. Our goal is to deliver a usable product. We also know, from our own experience, that a willingness to adapt to a new way of working will make the biggest difference. To paraphrase tennis great Arthur Ashe, “Our plan is to start where we are, use what we have, and do what we can.” At the end of the day, that is what workflow and BPM is all about - getting us closer to achieving our business objectives.
BP Logix is a BPM company that's culture is steeped in flexibility — and the recognition that implementing better and more automated processes helps us improve as an organization. While we have received numerous accolades from customers and analysts, they are not for being dogmatic about one specific way of doing things. Sure, we have deep and abiding faith that Process Director will enable any organization to collect, collaborate and operate with greater efficiency and better outcomes. We do not, however, advocate buying Process Director on the basis of a datasheet and 20 bullet points describing its workflow management software features — or even its benefits.
Rather, we come from a more consultative mindset that results from seeing how so many businesses, across many industries, handle their own processes and workflow. We have been astounded at some — and amazed at others! There are instances where we marvel at how a company got to $500M in revenue operating through an inefficient, paper-based environment that lacked any formal process. Rather than think of our job as one of selling, we prefer to think it as a learning process, and that process is somewhat of a journey. Along the way we teach, we acquire deeper understandings, and we apply them all in the kinds of BPM solutions we advocate. This perspective is what makes our jobs so fascinating and what helps us to better serve the needs of our customers.
Our product team recognizes that implementing new solutions is challenging for any organization, which is why we work collaboratively with prospects and customers to learn about their businesses: what constitutes "business as usual" and how it could be improved. What are their pain points, and are those pain points solvable? We seek to understand those things before we can have a substantive conversation.
The world of business constantly moves forward. Progress often occurs as a result of looking at what “could” be considered fire drills, mistakes or failed approaches. Those results are, however, simply the by-products of living and working in the real world.
Yes, we do eat our own proverbial dog food. We prefer, however, to know what our guests think of it— so we can serve up better batches and keep our customers happy.